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Project Description:

My Village, My Responsibility project, aims to empower youth to have an effective role in their local community. This project also promotes interaction between civil society and the local municipality.
40 youth from the villages of Bireh, Cheikh Mohammed, Sir el Donniyeh and Miniyeh, have been gathered from different youth groups, and attended a 5 days workshop where they acquired the necessary knowledge to play an effective role in lobbing their municipality and make positive change.
After the workshop, youth  developed a lobbying activity in order to hold their municipalities accountable.

Project Achievements:

[1] Form six youth groups (68 participants in total) in six villages of North Lebanon. These groups are capable of motivating communities, influencing local policies and participating in decision-making.
[2] Build participants’ capacities according to the project’s objectives through workshops and training sessions.
[3] Development of a youth guide to serve as a tool to influence local policies and municipal decisions. The guide comprises all steps followed by the participants during project implementation, in addition to the achievements.
The guide will be distributed in 78 schools of all Lebanese governorates.
[4] Development of a guide for mobilisers on how to motivate local youth groups in order to influence local policies and municipal decision-making.
[5] Youth influence on municipal councils to achieve their demands:
a. Shekka: Verbal approval to set up a public park b. Barsa: Verbal approval to build a soccer field c. El-Bireh: Written approval to paint threepublic walls, estab lish a municipal monitor d. Sheikh Mohammed: Verbal approval to hire a municipal police officer e. El-Minyeh: Written approval to equip a music troup f. Sir EL-Donniyeh: Written approval to restore the market [6] Inform all municipalities in North Lebanon about the project and invite them to participate [7] Involve citizens and other concerned parties in the lobbying campaigns:
a. Distribute more than 700 questionnaires in the participating villages b. Meet with heads of municipalities c. Meet with engineers, architects and lawyers.

February

 

  1. The project is gaining momentum, and additional villages are requesting to participate. During a meeting in a café in Tripoli with a representative from Bire, a woman approached the group merely to ask about the project and request that the team include her village- Akkar el Atika. This woman has continued to stay in close contact with the team and continues to encourage us to find a way to include new villages. This event and her enthusiasm has motivated our team to encourage a positive spill-over effect in the region and find ways of collaboration with other villages- either through volunteering, mentoring, or other ways of inclusion in the project. Thus, as an impact of our work, youth from other villages are finding ways to be engaged in their community.

 

  1. One of the major successes of the project has occurred in the meeting with the youth in Bire. On the 16th of February, CRS and Nahwa al-Muwatiniya teams went to the village of Bireh in the aim of gathering the youth. The meeting’s goal was to introduce the project to the youth of this village, and to have a team of 15 girls and guys interested in working with us. As we were discussing the issues of Bireh, the youth explained that they have previously tried to create a youth committee that would work with the municipality to develop on-going social projects for the youth of the village. However, this initiative was halted as there wasn’t any follow-up, nor any person to guide and support the youth. They were extremely happy to be participating in the MVMR meeting and saw this as a way to ensure sustainability of their own project as well to enhance the communication and relationship with their municipality.

 

The women from Bireh were very enthusiastic and motivated to renew their experience with the municipality council, but with an NGO this time that will enhance their initiative.

 

Ghiwa Kanjou (second to the right) said “I’m extremely happy that I came to this meeting. Hopefully this project will have a bright future and a very positive impact on our community. Hopefully (“Inshallah”) we’ll be with you in all your projects”.

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March

 

  1. The major achievement of the month is the first day of the training on Sunday 30th of March. From 9AM to 5PM, the youth (45 girls and guys from Bireh, Cheikh Mohammed, Miniyeh and Sir El Donniyeh) were divided into two different groups and underwent a series of interesting exercises. The main purpose of the day was the enhancement of their awareness concerning the idea of citizenship, as well as the enhancement of their local sense of belonging (that should be above any other sense of belonging – religious, family –). Added to that was the presence of Anthony, a youth from Chekka who had been on the pilot project. He assisted the youth in the process of the exercises. He agreed to have a presentation of last year’s project during the second day of the training.

We feel that we made the youth acquire a sense of engagement in their communities. By making them think about the needs and problems of their own villages, the 45 youth that were present on Sunday evaluated the day as productive and fruitful. 

Another achievement is the contact that was established between few girls and guys and the team. By meeting twice a week (as seen in the attached activity sheet), the community mobilizers created an important momentum for the youth. Ibrahim Masri, a young scout from Miniyeh, continued to stay in close contact with the team. He even gave a hand in the gathering of the youth, especially from a gender-related perspective in the village. By getting to know our team, the youth feel close to the “civil society”, and feel connected to the change that’s happening in the country.

 

 

April

 

  1. We have noticed a huge change in the youth’s perceptions and actions related to civic activism. Through the training days and meetings we’ve had, the youth’s political and social awareness have increased. The training had a direct impact on the youth considering the enhancement of their knowledge and skills in the advocacy domain. We’ve observed that their discussions during training breaks have evolved into clearer and deeper perspectives and points of views. We are satisfied by how they absorbed the information of the training and personalized it within their own communities. Their growing activism and interest in the civil society also led them to interact more, especially between the villages from different sects or religion. The filling of the questionnaire itself inside the villages also contributed to the rise in their civic activism. The youth, as they were assessing the needs of their village, have grown their interest in the global public opinion in the village regarding the municipal council activities. As an indirect impact, we contributed to the rise of the sense of teamwork within each group.

Another success is the quality and choice of the community projects: the monitor, the public square, the municipal policeman, the musical troop or the library, are all very important projects with a long-term impact and perspective on the villages.

 

  1. Hind Wehbé is a 23 year-old woman from Bireh. She has participated in the training and has been with us since the first meeting in Bireh. On the 5th day of the training, the session started off with sharing the experiences about the questionnaires in the villages. In the village of Bireh, Hind was very excited and motivated to share her experience. She felt like she has a role to play in her community. “We feel like we’re responsible of making a great impact vis-à-vis the people we interviewed. They are now eagerly awaiting our project to be implemented. The fact that we went to a lot of houses to fill the questionnaire created a sort of relationship between our group and the people of the village.”. The youth, that decided to work towards a municipal monitor, will be assisted by Nahwa al-Muwatiniya in order to reach a coherent and sustainable structure. The youth are enthusiastic about the project and committed to making a difference within their community and reach out to the needs and hopes of the people in their villages.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hind, first to the right, among other youth from Bireh: “We now feel responsible for making a change in the village”. Tripoli, May 1st, 2008.

 

 

 

June

 

  1. The initiative of the youth in Cheikh Mohammed for the fundraising: the basket-ball tournament helped the youth spread the idea of their projects to the surrounding villages as it was a good idea for raising enough money.


  1. The speeches made by the youth have shown the true impact of the project on their mentalities and lives: Ahmad Ayyach from Bireh, Alaa’ Mahfoud from Cheikh Mohammed and Ahmad Alameddine from Miniyeh have especially made special speeches that show the importance of the impact we’ve created in their villages.

 

  1. The speech of the representative of the mayor in Miniyeh’s public meeting gave the biggest support to these initiatives and to the youth activities. Miniyeh has seen violence during the last few months and it was important for the local government to support pacific youth initiatives that pull the interest of the youth from violence to capacity-building and non-violent projects.